


Cypress

by ghoulhunt



Series: Of Herbs and Affections [3]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Graphic Description, M/M, doctor!AU, ken works at a publishing company, tsukiyama is a neurologist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 21:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5514143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghoulhunt/pseuds/ghoulhunt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Longevity; healing.<br/>In which life is too short and Shuu cannot heal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cypress

Life in the hospital is different every day.

In the emergency room, sometimes it’s a car accident. Sometimes, a kid will get a plastic shoe stuck up their nose. It could be symptoms of a severe disease, or maybe an allergic reaction. Maybe the man who lives down the street accidentally cut his thumb off while trying to weed-whack the bushes.

Tsukiyama Shuu has seen all of this and more. He’s seen horrific and grotesque scenes, and has treated them according to what needed to be done. He’s saved people’s lives countless times. Most of the time, he is in the operating room, specializing as a neurologist and performing brain surgeries that always lead to the patient’s full recovery. Other times, he’s up in the children’s ward of the hospital, visiting those he’s previously operated on, wishing them full recovery while presenting them with small “Get Well Soon!” bears and lots of balloons.

When he’s not at the hospital, though, he’s at home. He’s at home with the love of his life, making sure he is well. Making dinner, watching movies, cuddling up next to Kaneki Ken, whispering sweet nothings into his ear. He’s living in the sweet embrace of his one and only, the one who works down the street from his work in a publishing company building.

He’s so happy that he has him.

It’s another relatively normal morning. The alarm clock goes off, at seven o’clock in the morning, waking the couple from their slumber. Shuu turns to shut the annoying beeping off.

“Morning, Shuu…” the muffled voice of his fiancé greets him. Shuu opens his eyes to see the rising sun reflecting off of the white head of hair that belongs to Kaneki, bright oranges reflecting off of each strand like snow in the early morning.

“Morning, _mon chéri.”_ Shuu smiles and plants a small, resting kiss on the soft cheek of Kaneki, who is still wrapped tightly underneath the large comforter, almost refusing to leave the bed.

 Shuu, however, can’t stay in bed all day. He has to work. He has two scheduled minor surgeries, one for a patient who suffers severe epilepsy, and another who needs a small, newly discovered tumor removed from his brain. These, of course, he’s dealt with before. While life threatening, he knows how to handle these things. He knows the exact procedures he must perform. He must help these people.

Ken wraps his arms around his waist as he attempts to leave the bed. Shuu lets out a tired laugh, and takes the clasped hands apart in the front of him. “Love, I have to go.”

“No you don’t,” the muffled voice comes again.

“Yes, I do, _mio amour_.”

A low groan comes from the publisher. Shuu pulls him up by his arms and kisses him again. “I won’t be long, okay? Maybe I’ll be able to leave early, if I get all of my patients in on time.”

“Mhm.”

“Come on, you’re going to be late.” Shuu tells him.

“No…”

“Yes.” Shuu stands from the bed and grabs Kaneki underneath the legs, and under his arms, carrying him bridal style out of their small bedroom and down the hallway. He places the sleepy Kaneki down on the cushion where their traditional table lies, and he rubs at his eyes as the sun from the glass door to the balcony shines in and hits him in the eyes.

“I’m going to go take a shower.”

“Okay,” Shuu replies, watching as Kaneki leaves the room to grab his clothes and go to the bathroom.

Shuu starts to make him and Kaneki breakfast, meanwhile, in the connecting kitchen. He’s decided to make Okayu and Nori, and the traditional Miso soup. All is well, as everything is made in less than twenty minutes. Ken walks out right on time, dressed and prepared for work in his pinstripe suit, with a small briefcase set in his hand. Shuu is setting the breakfast for the two down on the table, and sitting down on the opposite cushion.

They mumble a small prayer together, and start eating. It’s quick, and takes almost no time to down. Shuu still has to shower quickly, and get dressed.

Once he’s finished, he shares the bathroom with Kaneki. He takes a quick shower while Ken brushes his teeth.

“Ken, would you be a dear and get me something to wear for today?” Shuu asks his love once he stops the shower.

“Of course. Would you like a blue shirt today?” Shuu can practically see the smirk through the foggy door of the shower.

Shuu rolls his eyes playfully at Ken. “Why not.”

Ken walks away and he steps out of the shower, quickly grabbing his towel and drying off. He wraps the towel around his waist and walks out to their room, putting what Ken’s selected; a blue shirt, a patterned tie, and work pants. Shuu gets dressed and grabs all of his necessities, his phone, wallet, and I.D., and walks out the door of the apartment, Ken beside him.

They enter the train. They wait to arrive to their stop, which is about twenty minutes away from their apartment. This is, perhaps, the worst part of the day for Shuu-the fact that he must leave his love for twelve hours every day at this moment is still a part of this relationship that he struggles with. Getting up in the middle of the night to leave him is as well. He hates not being able to see him, or responding to his small little texts left throughout the day whenever he takes a short break because he’s busy. Texting him on _his_ breaks is not enough.

The train doors open, marking their stop. The two step out of the car together. Shuu’s work his closer on the street, meaning that Ken must walk alone to his work. He hates not being able to escort him there. It makes him queasy, walking across the busy road by himself, even if he does it in the crosswalk.

“I love you,” Ken tells Shuu as they stop in front of the doors of the hospital. “I’ll see you when we get home.”

“I love you too.” Shuu says in response, kissing him passionately on the lips. “Be safe.”

“I will.”

With that, Shuu walks through the automatic doors of his work. He walks up the stairs and checks in to his work, and then makes his way back down to the main offices. He does paperwork until it’s a half an hour before the appointment begins, and he puts on his coat and nametag and leaves his small office, with a clipboard in hand.

The appointment goes well. It was a simple follow up before the surgery, which he is currently preparing for. He’s washed his hands and arms, has put on his gloves and scrubs and goggles and is ready to perform the surgery.

All goes well. He’s cut open the head and his performing open brain surgery. It’s a normal looking brain, and all he’s doing is taking out a small portion of the brain that causes the poor girl’s seizures. He cuts it out very, very carefully, and places the portion in the tray. He stops any bleeding, replaces the part of the skull he’d had to take out to reach the brain, and sews everything back together. The patient is sent off to the care unit, where she will be taken care of for as long as she needs to.

It’s a surgery done well. By now, the time on the clock reads twelve thirty. The surgery only took three hours, maybe two and a half. His team are all on their breaks, and his lunch starts in a half an hour. His next surgery starts at three, and he next has a consultation at one thirty.

He goes to the breakroom and pulls out his phone. Kaneki has texted him only minutes ago.

_I’m bringing lunch for us, if it’s okay. Meet me in the cafeteria. Love you._ The message reads, and Shuu can feel his heart flutter. Ken has done this before. Taking his belongings, he goes down to the cafeteria, which is on the fifth floor, and takes a seat at one of the tables in the center. His stomach is churning with hunger, and he’s excited to see what Kaneki has picked up this time-

“ _Doctor Tsukiyama to the ER, Doctor Tsukiyama to the ER,”_ a voice says over the intercom, and he sighs. He messages Ken quickly to tell him he’ll be a bit late. Shuu rushes to get to the bottom floor, making long strides towards the two open doors that lead into the ER.

He can hear the sound of alarm in the other’s voices. Besides the retching of patients in other small rooms and the phones ringing, he can tell that something is definitely wrong by the way the commotion is appearing, and the patient hasn’t even arrived yet.

The automatic doors on the opposite end of the wing open. A gurney that’s surrounded by people rushes into the emergency room. It’s absolutely gruesome, what he can see on the gurney; the foot is twisted in the completely opposite direction, and blood, dark blood is encasing the suit of whoever is on the gurney…

An arm is dangling from the gurney, fingers obviously shattered beyond repair and bleeding on the pinstripe suit.

His stomach drops.

“K..Ken…”

_That’s not his hand, that’s not his hand…_

“Tsukiyama-san, get to the OR now!” One of the doctors commands, and as they take the gurney from the others, Shuu can see the stained, white hair of his fiancé on the gurney.

He feels like everything is over. He can’t move. He can only shake, shake where he is standing, watch as they drag his Kaneki away into the operating room…

“No, no, no, no, no…” He mumbles. “No, it’s not Ken, it _can’t_ be Ken, Ken is alright, h-he’s at work…”

But Shuu knows he’s not at work.

Shuu collapses to the floor, tears flooding from his eyes. His world has completely shattered. He doesn’t know why Ken is on that gurney, heading to the operating room. He doesn’t know why he’s in critical condition, which requires all doctor’s to be in the same operating room.

He doesn’t understand why there is still a trail of his blood on the floor, waiting to be mopped up.

* * *

Shuu has to cancel the surgery for the patient. He’s shaken up completely. He knows that he can’t go into that operating room without breaking down-he’s already tried it once, and he hadn’t even stepped into the door.

He checks out of work early. He waits in the break room for hours, drinking countless cups of coffee to keep himself awake and aware. The doctors have been in the operating room with Ken for _hours_. Not one, not two, not even three. The time on the wall is approaching seven o’clock.

It’s been seven hours since they entered the OR. It’s been eleven since he heard his last “ _I love you.”_ It’s been twelve since they woke up that morning. The time is passing so dreadfully slow.

* * *

A nurse from the OR comes into the break room about a half an hour later. She tells him only of Ken’s current condition, and explains how the surgery isn’t nearly done.

She tells Shuu that he had been walking across the street. There was a man who was driving a delivery truck who wasn’t paying attention, and hit Kaneki at sixty miles an hour. He got trapped underneath one of the wheels and was lucky to even be alive. His head hit the pavement with such force that a region of his skull had been shattered, and his body was practically torn, but they were trying.

They needed another neurologist in there. Of course, they didn’t, Shuu knows that his coworker can work independently. She just wants him in the room. He refuses to go.

* * *

Shuu finally crashes on the table at midnight. He sleeps uncomfortably, eyes still red and stained with tears, anxiety high and causing him to wake several times throughout the night. He’s so worried that even while unconscious, he still can’t help but think what will happen to Ken.

Ken. He’s known Ken for a few years, now. They met when they were in college. They were sweethearts. It took a few times to finally get enough courage to ask the previously black haired student out on a date.

Their dates were the greatest. Shuu would always take him someplace to eat, or to a book store where there was a signing going on. Ken always listened to him read. Ken still listens to him read.

Shuu proposed last summer, the year Kaneki had graduated. Ken started crying tears of joy, his happiness the greatest thing SHuu could have been blessed with, besides Kaneki himself. He had been so excited. He was-is-still excited for the wedding to come, which they’ve been planning for months now. They plan on going away to get married. They plan on spending their honeymoon in America.

If only that would come to be.

* * *

It’s four in the morning when one of his coworkers taps him on the shoulder.

Shuu sits up almost immediately. He needs to hear the news.

He needs to hear what’s happened.

The solemnity on his coworker’s face is enough to say what’s happened.

“Shuu-san.”

Shuu bites his lip to make it stop quivering.

“We…we did everything we could.”

The burning sensation begins in the back of his eyes.

“Kaneki Ken has passed away. There was too much blood loss. It wouldn’t stop, even after we had reached the areas that-“

“Stop. Please.”

Shuu puts his head in his hands. His heart is breaking and aching. His eyes are dropping tears. His body shudders with sobs and whimpers that mourn the love of his life.

“I’m so sorry.”

Shuu shakes his head. He shakes his head and continues to cry. He can feel the cold metal of his ring pressed up against his temple.

It only makes him cry harder.

“P-please g-go,” He stutters out. “L-leave.”

He can hear the footsteps of his coworker leave the room, and he lets out a loud, overwhelming sob, crying, crying because this wasn’t supposed to happen; crying because he shouldn’t have let him come over across the dangerous street, crying because of all people it should’ve been _him_ , not Kaneki, not the one he truly cared for, ached every moment for and spent so much time for.

It shouldn’t have been Kaneki.

Everything around Shuu has diminished.

**Author's Note:**

> Cypress means longevity and healing, as well as comfort and protection.  
> I made myself cry while writing this.  
> This was written for the prompt AU Setting. This fic will be out of order of the prompts, unfortunately, because I am currently stuck on the family dynamics prompts but don't want to hold myself back. These two fics will be switched in order of appearance in this series.


End file.
